1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an output control apparatus for effecting output control by data exchange with an external equipment.
2. Related Background Art
In the conventional laser beam printer, a printer controller unit executes the predetermined process by receiving information for example on the sheet transporting status, error information such as for the sheet jamming and an alarm such as for a low toner amount from the engine control unit through serial communication defined by the video interface.
In such conventional laser beam printer, however, the above-mentioned serial communication has to be made periodically or whenever necessary, for a status change which is not reflected in the ready (RDY) signal indicating that the engine control unit is in a standby state capable of the printing operation, and, in particular, such serial communication has always to be made in every printing operation when the automatic sheet feeding function is selected. Consequently such serial communication constitutes an overhead in the process.
Also the utility softwares on the external equipment ask the printer status by palling, so that the user becomes uneasy by the increase in the network traffic and by the slow response to the state change.